Cramond Roman Fort | |
---|---|
Location in Edinburgh | |
Alternative name(s) | Carumabo?, Rumabo? |
Founded | c. 140 AD |
Abandoned | 4th century AD |
Attested by | Ravenna Cosmography? |
Stationed military units | |
— Legions — | |
vexill. II Augusta | |
— Cohorts — | |
Location | |
Coordinates | 55°58′39″N3°17′48″W / 55.9774°N 3.2967°W |
Town | Edinburgh |
Country | Scotland |
Reference | |
UK-OSNG reference | NT1976 |
Cramond Roman Fort is a Roman-Era archaeological site at Cramond, Edinburgh, Scotland. [1] The settlement may be the "Rumabo" listed in the 7th-century Ravenna Cosmography .
The fort was established around 140 AD and occupied until around 170 AD, with a further period of occupation from around 208 to 214 AD. [2] Among the many archaeological finds, one of the most famous is a sculpture known as the Cramond Lioness.
The fort at Cramond was located on the River Almond at the point where it flows into the Forth. In Roman times, there was probably a natural harbour here. [3] One suggested interpretation is that Cramond formed a chain of Lothian forts along with Carriden and Inveresk. [4]
The fort was established around 140 AD during the building of the Antonine Wall, and remained in use until around 170 AD when the Romans retreated south to Hadrian's Wall. [5]
When the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus began the last major Roman incursion into Scotland from 205 [2] to 214 AD, the fort was reoccupied and enlarged. [5] Throughout these periods of occupation a civilian settlement seems to have existed outside the fort, and some native occupation of the fort seems to have taken place after the time of Severus into the 5th century [6] [7]
Several Roman inscriptions have been found around Cramond [8] and during the early Sub-Roman period. [9]
During the late 1970s and 1980s excavations were undertaken of the Roman road leading into the fort. It was found that it underwent four phases of construction/mortification during the Antonine and Severan periods.
Finds of medieval and post-medieval material from the road surface suggests that the road was used until the 17th or 18th century, when the area was incorporated into the designed landscape of Cramond House. [7]
A stone altar, which was dug up a few hundred years ago in the grounds of Cramond House, was originally erected by a cohort of Tungrians (either first or second) and was dedicated to "the Alatervan Mothers and the Mothers of the Parade-ground" [11] (Latin : Matres Alatervae et Matres Campestres). [6] Early antiquarians interpreted this as referring to the place where the stone was found, and drew from it the conclusion that the Roman name of Cramond was "Alaterva". [12] This idea is no longer accepted among scholars, and "Alatervae" is now believed to be an epithet attached to the Matronae, following a practice found elsewhere in the empire. [12] It is thought that Cramond may be the "Rumabo" listed in the 7th-century Ravenna Cosmography – the original form of the name perhaps being "Carumabo". [13] [14]
Other stones found at the fort include a centurial stone of Legio II Augusta, [15] and an altar "To Jupiter Optimus Maximus" [16] erected by the fifth cohort of Gauls. [6]
The discovery of a silver sword pendant indicates that a high-ranking beneficiarius was at the fort at some point. [7]
The most famous sculpture is the Cramond Lioness recovered from the mouth of the River Almond in 1997. The sculpture, in a non-local white sandstone, shows a lioness devouring her prey, a naked bearded male torso. [17] The sculpture was probably part of a large tomb monument of an important Roman officer, perhaps the fort commander or an important dignitary. [17]
The ground plan of part of the fort is laid out in an area of open parkland. Here one can see the headquarters building, granaries and a workshop, together with other buildings, restored in outline. [18] Information panels at the site link the findings of the last 50 years of excavations, and recreate life in the former Roman headquarters and bathhouse. [19] However, some parts of the fort and associated structures are located under some of the more modern buildings in the village. These structures are periodically uncovered when development work is required, for example, excavations in 1998 and 2001 before the construction of an extension to the Kirk Hall, which led to the discovery of the defensive ditches around, and the road into, the fort. [20]
Since 2000 there have been plans to turn the Roman remains at Cramond into a tourist attraction. The plans include a visitor centre and museum, housing most of the Roman artefacts discovered in the area over the years, including the Cramond Lioness. [21] [22] [23]
Stone tools have been recovered from the fort from the Mesolithic period by archaeologists and there is a Mesolithic site just to the north from the Late Mesolithic period in Scotland (dated to 8600–8400 BC). This has led archaeologists to conclude the fort was built over a Mesolithic site or sites. [7]
Condatis was an ancient Celtic deity worshipped primarily in northern Britain but also in Gaul. He was associated with the confluences of rivers, in particular within County Durham in the North of England. Condatis is known from several inscriptions in Britain and a single inscription found at Alonnes, Sarthe, France. In each case he is equated with the Roman god Mars.
Coventina was a Romano-British goddess of wells and springs. She is known from multiple inscriptions at one site in Northumberland, England, an area surrounding a wellspring near Carrawburgh on Hadrian's Wall. It is possible that other inscriptions, two from Hispania and one from Narbonensis, refer to Coventina, but this is disputed.
Cramond Village is a village and suburb in the north-west of Edinburgh, Scotland, at the mouth of the River Almond where it enters the Firth of Forth.
Alchester is the site of an ancient Roman town. The site is not included in any ancient references so the Roman name is not known. However, Eilert Ekwall contended that it appears as Alavna in the Ravenna Cosmography, with the addition of the Old English ceaster to signify a Roman fort. It lies about 2 miles (3 km) south of Bicester, in the northwest corner of the civil parish of Wendlebury in the English county of Oxfordshire.
Ancaster was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. It is sited on the Roman road known as the Ermine Street and is situated in the county of Lincolnshire. Its name in Latin is unknown, although it has traditionally been identified with Causennis or Causennæ, a name which occurs as a town on the route of Iter V recorded in the Antonine Itinerary. Rivet and Smith questioned this identification in 1979, and suggested that a more likely identification would be either the Roman settlement at Salters ford, near Grantham in Lincolnshire, or at Sapperton in Lincolnshire.
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Bewcastle Roman Fort was built to the north of Hadrian's Wall as an outpost fort possibly intended for scouting and intelligence. The remains of the fort are situated at the village of Bewcastle, Cumbria, 7 miles (11 km) to the north of the Roman fort at Birdoswald, on Hadrian's Wall.
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The Cramond Lioness is a Roman-era sculpture recovered in 1997 from the mouth of the River Almond at Cramond in Edinburgh, Scotland. The sculpture, one of the most important Roman finds in Scotland for decades, was discovered by ferryman Robert Graham.
Cramond Tower is a fifteenth-century tower house in the village of Cramond to the north-west of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Cataractonium was a fort and settlement in Roman Britain. The settlement evolved into Catterick, located in North Yorkshire, England.
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Navio Roman fort overlooks a tight bend of the River Noe at Brough-on-Noe near Hope, Derbyshire, in England. Navio fort and vicus is a Scheduled Monument.